Ryuusei no Zearu
by Artemis Ignitan
Summary: A series of various oneshots, consisting of interactions between the Yu-Gi-Oh! ZeXal cast and Megaman Star Force cast. No rhyme or reason to character pairings, just going with what's requested! Mostly friendship, little romance unless specifically asked for. Updated whenever someone asks for a prompt! Chapter 3: Impossible to Ignore. The two boys were similar, yet different.
1. Unpleasant Encounters

**(A/N): Alright, looks like it's time for more fic stuffs! And by fic stuffs I mean stuff that's already been prewritten and lying around the place for a while now. Basically, I managed to get a little friend (hi Jay) on Tumblr into both Star Force and YGO ZeXal at the same time. So while they haven't actually finished either of the series yet, I did get several little crossover prompts to write. They've given me permission to post them here, so I'll just put them up every now and then as an archive of sorts, I guess. I suppose I'll take prompts from other people on here too, if you all want, although I am admittedly not sure how many people would actually be interested in this crossover, fff.**

**Just some quick notes that apply to all the chapters that will be put up.**

_**-Unless stated otherwise, it's likely that the set universe is Star Force characters being dropped into ZeXal verse, which means most of the stories will be set in Heartland. Also, unless stated otherwise, the Star Force characters will be post-SF3's canon. ZeXal timeline is subject to change and will often be left ambiguous, however.**_

_**-It's assumed that the virtual overlay network used in ZeXal's duels is similar to Star Force's Wave World-that means that Subaru's Visualizer can see duels, and a Hunter VG could technically be modified to be used as a D-Pad, as well as vice versa. It also means that the virtual network generates Noise, which may be used as a plot point. The two technologies are similar enough that Denpa-Humans could mess around with ZeXal's tech, but it would not be as easy to navigate through for them.**_

_**-It's also assumed that "duel spirits" and other things are visible on a certain denpa/electromagnetic frequency that most humans without spiritual aid/sensitivity can't see; so people who can see denpa, like a certain Murian, or people with Visualizers can see them. This means that Subaru with his Visualizer or Solo can see and communicate with beings like Astral. (Not sure if they could sense anything off with a Barian's human form, though...)**_

**Alright, with that settled, let's get to the first prompt! Actually, it was two prompts, but I was a dumb and read it as a single plot, so this first chapter will actually have two oneshots linked together by a vague, nonexistent storyline!**

**_"Yuuma getting attacked by Solo" _and_ "Subaru being cornered by Black Mist." _**

* * *

"Where. Is. He."

Yuuma found himself backing away from the admittedly intimidating teen who had shown up in front of him just mere moments ago. He appeared to be one or two years younger than him-but with his glaring red eyes and undaunted stance, it made him look like as if he stood just as tall as Yuuma, if not taller.

"Who the heck are you talking about?! What are you saying, showing up all of a sudden?" Yuuma retorted, pumping his voice full of bravado. Since when was he one to back down? He couldn't, especially not now, when he was helpless to assist with what was happening…

"You know who I'm talking about," the boy hissed back, making Yuuma recoil. "Don't pretend. He was just here moments ago. _Rockman._" The last word was bit out in an angry growl, but even with that extra intimidation factor, Yuuma couldn't help but process the words with confusion instead of fear. What the hell was a Rock…whatever? But then…the person who had just left…

"You don't mean…Subaru? What the heck do you want with him?!" Yuuma didn't get what was going on. He was never good at understanding things when they came on so quickly, and having all these events happening all at once was too much to process. If only that kid would just give him some time to think!

"I have to _delete_ him," the younger boy snarled in a tone that no child his age should have been able to accomplish. "He knows that I was coming. He never runs from _me_." He sought out Yuuma's eyes and bore into them, the intensity rooting Yuuma to the spot.

"If he runs, even when I'm nearby, even when he knows that we have to fight, that means something _more_ important is going on. That means that he has to protect his precious _bonds_ with his precious _friends_, and the only one around here is _you_. So, out with it. Where did he go?!"

Yuuma didn't respond at first, only staring at the younger boy's intent expression. What was he talking about, deletion? That didn't mean he wanted to-?

"Heck no, I'm not telling you! You want to-to off him, don't you?! I'm not telling you a thing!" He stood his ground defiantly, only to have the boy glare at him even harder.

"Is that so…"

"Yeah!" Yuuma felt his courage rise, even despite a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that wouldn't cease, something telling him that he shouldn't be assertive. That part of him he always ignored (wouldn't it be terrible, reverting back to his old, insecure self?) unless Astral was around. "What are you gonna do about it?"

Before he could get another word out, before he could even have a chance to regret his words, there was a flash of purple light in front of him, and the smaller boy had disappeared. In his place was a boy who somehow seemed taller, perhaps due to the bulky black and red boots he wore. A sword was held up to his neck, a twisted purplish blade that rippled with energy, giving it the illusion of it actually moving, flowing (but swords couldn't do that, they were solid, right?). He could barely look past the blade to see the black catsuit, the X-shaped visor, the right fist engulfed in glowing violet flames.

"Rockman always shows when others are in trouble. That's what they always said…"

Yuuma visibly flinched, barely noticing the trail of sweat that had slowly begun to drip down his neck until the blade was slowly withdrawn.

"I know for a fact that when Rockman's friends are targeted, his anger is unleashed tenfold." The boy-warrior?-tsked and shook his head. "He is not one I would use those tactics on, not anymore. He has…he does not deserve that. I would prefer to fight him on equal grounds…"

The sword came to rest at the boy's side, and despite the seemingly relaxed position, Yuuma somehow felt that the arm holding it was tense, ready to move (_slice_) within a moment.

"Rockman doesn't need your protection. He knows I'm coming, and he waits for me. He doesn't fear it, so you shouldn't either. But if he's not here now, then he's in danger, and I cannot-"The boy stopped, huffed, then scowled.

"I cannot allow that to happen. He has something of mine, and if it's lost for good…"

"So you just want to…to…to do _that_ just because he has something that belongs to you?!"

"It's not that simple!" The warrior snarled, the fires around his fist flared, and the sword…hissed? Yuuma blinked, not quite sure he had heard the garbled, staticy sound buzzing just under the range of his hearing, then shook his head and ignored it.

"If…if things were just that simple…I…he'd…he wouldn't be able to win, I…I would have had it already."

It was the first time that Yuuma had seen an emotion other than the stoic anger cross the white-haired boy's face. It looked almost like…helplessness? Whatever it was, it was gone quickly.

"It…he…I…" He hesitated, before turning his face downwards, finally looking his age for the briefest of moments.

"There's a bond…" he mumbled quietly. Yuuma could barely hear it. A silence settled between them, and Yuuma, on closer inspection, couldn't help but be reminded of someone. Someone else who had pushed others away for the sake of his own goals, would never say directly to anyone what their true emotions were unless forced out of them with a duel. Blink, purple hair replaced white, blink again and it was back to normal, and Yuuma smiled.

"Subaru…Rockman…I don't exactly understand what happened." Yuuma's expression settled into a puzzled frown, and the boy looked up. "Black Mist…he had shown himself again, while Astral was trying to recover, and somehow Subaru could see him with his strange glasses. Before Black Mist could do anything, Subaru did something, there was a flash of green light and he had changed…now that I think about it, that must be what you mean by 'Rockman,' doesn't it?"

Indeed, the boy's expression had become more focused, intent, to the point that his only response to Yuuma's question was a nod.

"Yeah, well, whatever he did, it made Black Mist interested, that a person could follow into the…insub…substan-something, whatever! That he could follow Black Mist, I mean. And when he challenged Subar-Rockman to a duel, I think S-Rockman thought he meant an actual fight, because he started firing at him with some kind of machine gun! Anyways, it made Black Mist flee, but not before I heard Astral calling from inside…I threw Hope to Rockman, and he went after Black Mist…I don't even know what good Hope can be to him, if he's not even dueling, but…!" Yuuma shook his head.

"I don't even know where they went off to. They just seemed to…vanish, somehow. I thought I saw a streak of light, but…" Yuuma gripped the Emperor's Key tightly, not knowing what to do. It felt strange, gripping the key for any sign of Astral when he knew that the alien wasn't _there_, but it was all he could do to try and sense out something, _anything_, that would help him find his friend.

He was jolted out of his reverie by the warrior forcefully grabbing him by the hoodie on his vest, pulling him closer with a surprising amount of strength.

"You're coming with me."

"H-hey, wait a second-yyyaaaaarggghhh!"

With nothing but a jolt of vertigo and nausea as an explanation, they were both gone from that spot.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Rockman growled softly to himself as the black being smoothly glided around his attacks. It was flexible and amorphous, freely changing shape to avoid being hurt. The only thing unceasing was it constantly wearing Astral's face as if trying to taunt him.

It didn't matter. He had fought his friends before. He was already familiar with the feeling of anger, despair; and he knew the resolve needed to face them down to save them. He had done this before…he could do this again. It was as simple as that. Even when one black tentacle caught his free arm, restricting his movements…he didn't panic, calmly going through his mind for some sort of strategy that could work against a fluid, always changing opponent.

Fluid…

"Battle Card, Freeze Knuckle!" His arm changed from the sword it had previously been to a big, bulky fist, and he slammed it into the black rope holding his arm down. As he had hoped, the arm began to freeze, immediately losing all flexibility as it became entrapped in ice.

"Battle Card, Sword!" Again, the sword reappeared, slamming into the frozen limb and shattering it into multiple pieces and freeing his arm. He noted the look of shock on the being's face, grimaced, and charged in to strike another decisive blow.

He found himself facing a giant gaping maw and he leapt back, staring in shock at the large monstrosity that had sprouted in front of Black Mist. A behemoth with fiery eyes and a large demonic mouth on its chest, long limbs adorned with claws that proved to be just as flexible as the smaller being's dark tentacles.

"This is my true form!" Black Mist cackled, and as he went on in a spiel boasting of its power, Rockman found himself desperately dodging a series of whip-like attacks that came faster than the normal eye could see.

"I didn't want to do this…but…" Rockman grimaced. Hopefully this would have no consequences, using this sort of dangerous corrosive power in a place that was unfamiliar with it. "Activate the Noise Program, War-Rock!"

Immediately, Rockman felt a surge of foreign power, and he would have recoiled if he wasn't so engrossed in leaping away from attacks, trying to avoid being cornered by Black Mist. That was more Noise than he expected, his battle shouldn't have generated that much! Unless…of course! He had been able to use his Visualizer to substitute for those virtual reality visors, those D-Gazers! That meant that whatever overworld technology they were using to enhance their duels and their virtual reality…it must have been similar enough to the denpa technology back home! These people were producing some kind of waste akin to Noise, and they may or may not have already known-but no matter now, he realized. He had to think of these things later, for now he had to worry about protecting Hope from Black Mist, and trying to defeat that Number!

"Illegal Card: Sword Fighter!" The familiar Crimson misted around his hand, burning as it shifted his Hunter into a thin saber-like blade that encased his whole arm. As if on command, his arm moved at a blinding speed to match the multiple whipping attacks, and he could barely keep track of all the moves he was countering. While he had stopped Black Mist's advance, he wasn't progressing forward, and Rockman sweated under the stress of keeping up such a rapid pace of attack. He had to think of something else, and quick-

"Yaaaaah!" Rockman hadn't noticed the tail of the large creature slowly snaking behind him while he was engrossed with countering the arm's rapidfire attacks. He didn't even realize the tail was that flexible, not until it suddenly curled around one leg and yanked him upward, resulting in him dangling helplessly upside down even as he struggled to get free. Twisting and turning in an attempt to get the tail to release his leg did no good.

"Battle Card, Freeze Knuckle!" Again the blue fist appeared, but even as he tried to reorient himself to strike at the tail, a tentacle was easily able to grab at the wrist and yank it away, rendering it useless.

"You really think the same trick would work twice?!" Black Mist crowed triumphantly, making Subaru grunt in frustration. He forcibly tried to move his arm, using all the strength he could muster to point the fist directly at the behemoth that was Black Mist's true form.

"Battle Card, Gatling Gun!"The fist changed into the familiar machine gun, but just as its barrels began to spin, that increasingly familiar black gunk ensnared it, halting its movements and jamming its systems, forcing the weapon to vanish. His left hand was now completely engulfed in the stuff, and he couldn't help but let out a scream of pain as his arm was forcibly yanked behind his back, effectively binding him. Still, he couldn't give up!

"B-battle ca-aaamph!" Now his mouth and nose was covered, effectively smothering him and breaking his concentration. Instinctively, his free arm reached to pry the gunk off his face, fingernails desperately grabbing at the substance that just seemed to slip out of them and cling all the tighter to his face. Abruptly another cry escaped him as the other arm was decisively yanked away from his face and bound to his back, rendering him completely helpless.

"You put up a surprisingly good fight, for someone unable to duel," he heard the voice taunting him, and he began to struggle again, even as he felt the bonds squeeze tighter. "But now I must retrieve that Number back from you. You really shouldn't have it, after all."

Rockman continued to struggle, but he had been held upside down for far too long, and his head was starting to spin. His vision blurred, his struggles lessened, and he felt his eyes starting to close despite his every effort to stay conscious. More tentacles began to ensnare him, binding his upper torso even more effectively and halting his already weakening efforts to break his arms free.

"Don't worry. This will end quickly enough."

Blackness was encroaching on his vision. He strained to stay awake, but he could barely sense anything right now, only the barest hint of a voice still distant, different from the being taunting him right now. No…he couldn't place it right now, but…it was…familiar…

_"Oi…Rockman-!"_

* * *

**(A/N): Well, hope that was enjoyable. Again, I'm totally willing to take more prompts! The prompts were mostly given in the format of [Zexal Character] [activity] [Star Force character], but feel free to mix them up, if you want!**


	2. TV Time

**(A/N): kay time to upload the next prompt. THIS IS A SHORT FIC THOUGH oh well  
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**this time the prompt iiisss:  
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**_"Astral watching TV with War-Rock.__" _**

* * *

"Maah, I never really got the whole 'eating while you watch TV' thing when I wasn't solid, but man, this is actually really great!" Astral heard the EM being say. It came out rather muffled due to the fact that the beast-like creature was stuffing food down his mouth, but it was audible enough.

"Which show is it?" Astral found himself asking as he lowered himself down to the television's level to spy what was going on with the screen.

"Ah-Duel Monsters Investigations! It's pretty interesting, seeing those cards of yours going around solving crimes, not too different from that Wave Road Investigations show back on our Earth, actually. I think it's the exact same other than the characters."

"Heeh, so things are more similar between our worlds than we thought…" Astral murmured, looking at the screen. "I prefer the Star Robin series myself…"

"That show about the intergalactic hero? I guess that's kind of old hat for us, but I can see why you like it!' War-Rock grinned.

"Ah, right, you and Subaru are heroes back in your world, aren't you," Astral murmured, an expression of awe briefly crossing his face before it returned to its standard neutrality. "Do you have catchphrases or anything like that?"

"Nah, Subaru's too modest to go around shouting things when he's fighting," laughed War-Rock. "We do get called 'the blue shooting star' or 'the Blue Bomber' a lot, though. It embarrasses him."

"Hah…" Astral watched as the energy being continued to shovel food in his mouth, and he found himself feeling a little jealous that War-Rock lived in a device that allowed him to become solid at will. Astral remembered the taste of human food only once, when he was fused with Yuuma, but it wasn't as if they could abuse the power of ZeXal simply because he wanted to try more food. It was too dangerous a power to do that."

"Do you think that Hunter would help make me solid as well?" Astral found himself asking before he could stop himself.

"Eh, why not, right? I mean, his Visualizer can see your duels, so our denpa and whatever you use for holograms must be something similar. Hell, he was able to figure out how to use the Hunter's solid denpa capacities to make it replicate the way Yuuma's D-Pad just…materializes the other parts in the AR Vision, right? So if you're similar to the duel field's power source, maybe we could make you solid using the Hunter! It'd be cool, wouldn't it?"

"Mm, yes. Perhaps we'll consult with him in the morning," Astral noted, turning towards the two sleeping boys sharing the attic space with them. It really was something, how humans could be comfortable anywhere-Yuuma was sprawled out on the hammock despite it barely having enough physical substance to hold him, and Subaru was asleep on the floor curled up in blankets pilfered from Yuuma's never-used bed with equally little trouble. Another fascinating thing about the human world, Astral observed.

"Sounds like a plan! By the way, I'm not making you miss your show, am I?"

"No, it comes on after this one, I think…"

* * *

**(A/N): Short fic, etc. etc. etc., please review, whatever. Again, I'm totally willing to take more prompts! The prompts were mostly given in the format of [Zexal Character] [activity] [Star Force character], but feel free to mix them up, if you want!**


	3. Impossible to Ignore

**(A/N): an even shorter fic comes thy way, peasants.  
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**this time the prompt iiisss:  
**

**_"Shark trying to ignore Subaru.__" _**

* * *

It really grated on Shark's nerves how similar the two boys were.

Granted, it wasn't obvious at first glance. Yuuma was loud, obnoxious, not that smart, outgoing, and overall everything one would expect the local class idiot to be. Subaru was quiet, obliging, smart, and tended to keep to himself whenever possible. If anything he was more like _Astral_ if the local school delinquent had to make any sort of opinion. (That War-Rock alien, however, was definitely much more like Yuuma. Everyone had to admit to that.)

Even so, the two boys were both incredibly naïve and giving, both far too selfless for their own good, and too intent on meddling in the affairs of others. Of course, if Shark mentioned that he thought Subaru was meddling out loud, he'd probably be laughed at out loud. But the younger boy did seem to have his way of prying into other people's hearts and minds, and it grated on him.

While Yuuma preferred an in-your-face sort of method, constantly pursuing the target and facing them head on to get them to see his words, Subaru had a more indirect way of going about things. He'd regard people from a distance, give them curious, sometimes even _sympathizing_ looks that seemed to bare hidden pains in his soul and try to beckon the other person to do the same. If he was given a chance to speak, he would do so. He always seemed to catch on if someone was hiding some sort of pain, and while he never was overt about it, somehow, the other person would know that he knew and was worried.

To be frank, he wasn't sure whether Yuuma's obvious ways or Subaru's subtle ones angered him more, but he did know that whatever it was…it didn't really make him that angry. Not much.

After all, he had somehow become part of Yuuma's little ragtag group of friends. What was one more?

* * *

**(A/N): are these getting shorter? I think they're getting shorter. Ahahaha.  
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